A festa do “Vale Encantado”... ou o X Festival da Cachaça (de) Abaíra

dimensões espetacular, interativa e educativa

Abstract

Contextual study of the relations between culture and development the object of which is the 10th “Cachaça” Festival of Abaíra, a Bahian city located in the Chapada Diamantina, 556 km away from Salvador/BA. Departing from the concept of culture as the matrix of behaviors and of development as an oriented social change, one tries to show how social change dynamics, impelled by the optimization of the artisan productive process of cachaça, is manifested in the organization of the event, which is revealed in the intercrossing of evocations from the past with hopes deposited in the future, translated in the scenarios, speeches and in the event programming, as well as in the local symbols and in the material production of the beverage. In spite of the evidences that traditional autochthonic knowledge is valued in the process of technological modernization present in the micro region of Abaíra, it is also evident that the majority of producers are at the margin of the intended changes, and this can be attributed both to the tensions and conflicts that stimulated local social dynamics, and to the absence of public policies and the lack of synergy of the actions linked to the sector. The absence of information and orientation elements that would provide the appropriation of the cultural capital incorporated to the productive process of the cachaça reveals that the emphasis is given much more on the spectacular greatness of the event than on the interactive or educational dimensions.